Bag and carrying and closure means therefor



' Feb. 17, 1970 J. SCHMIDT ETAL BAG AND CARRYING AND CLOSURE MEANS THEREFOR Filed June 27, 1968 3 & F

FiG. 4.

m m m wr m h C S n h 0 J S W Y B 77mm? ATTORNEY United States PatentO US. Cl. 229-54 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A reusable plastic bag, and particularly a combined closure and carrying means for such a bag. The closure and carrying means comprises two elongate strip portions which are heat-sealed to an opposing wall of the bag mouth, and with fastening or locking means on the adjacent faces to permit sealing of the mouth of the bag. The closure and carrying means comprises two hand grip defining bow portions, each of which is joined with, and extends laterally outwardly of, a respective one of the elongate strips. The bow portions are adapted to be detachably secured together and overlie each other when so secured. Extending upwardly from each bow element is a hook, which is integrally formed with the bow and adapts the structure for hanging from a rod or the like for display purposes. The hook portion is preferably secured to the bow along a rupturable tear line so that the hook can be torn off after sale to facilitate carrying of the bag.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various types of bags made of thermoplastic material are'known in the art. Many such prior bags include a combination carrying and closure means for the bag which makes it possible to provide a tight closure thereof so that its contents cannot readily be lost, nor can dirt or moisture readily enter the bag.v

It is also well-known in the art to provide bags'whose main body portion is formed of a thin film of thermoplastic material, such as the more common vinyl or polyethylene plastics. The prior art further teaches the use of a combination carrying and closure means for such a thin film plastic bag which is heat-sealed or "cemented, or

otherwise fastened tothe thin film. It is also common to fabricate the carrying and closure means from. thermoplastic material having a substantially heavier gauge than that of the thin film used for the main portion of the bag since this provides greater strength and provides a desirable rigidity to the mouth'ofthe bag, thereby making it more convenient to open the bag and to maintain it open for obtaining access to the bags interior.

In addition to the foregoing, it is also known in the art to provide a combination carrying and closure means,

:which consists essentially of two generally congruent strips of a semi-rigid material, such as a heavy gauge plastic, which are welded or heat-sealed to the mouth of the bag. To open the bag, it is then only necessary to grasp the two handle portions with ones right and left hands respectively and separate the two handle portions. Quite often, a securing or locking means is employed, which tends to hold the two oppositely disposed handle portions together, thereby effectively maintaining a tight closure of the mouth of the bag. In its most practical form, such a fastening means may comprise frictionally engaging studs and recesses as shown, for example, in the patent to Laguerre, No. 3,140,038.

Carrier bags of the type disclosed in the above-mentioned Laguerre patent have achieved great commercial success throughout the world. Bags of that type are be lieved to represent the first low-cost, reusable carrier bags.

Reusable carrier bags have previously been known, but have generally been'of rather substantial cost, thereby making them unattractive for use by a merchandiser, because of the competitive disadvantage which results from attempting to market goods in packaging materials of high cost. At the same time, inexpensive packaging materials, and particularly plastic bags, have not. been indefinitely reusable. Thus, the combination of low cost with reusability, in a closable carrier bag, capable of being attractively decorated with advertising or the like, have resulted in outstanding commercial success of the Laguerre-type bags.

One of the most attractive features of the bags of the Laguerre patent mentioned above is the convenience in carrying of such bags, which comprise a central gripping bow extending laterally outward from each of a pair of elongate plastic strips, each strip being heat-sealed to the mouth of the bag. Such bows provide a convenient hand grip for carrying the bag, even when heavily loaded.

At the same time, there has frequently been a need to provide an alternative type of carrying means; namely, a hook which readily adapts the carrier bag to being displayed, prior to sale, from a display rod or the like. It has been found that the ability to display packaged goods in carrier bags and while hung from a display rod or the like contributes greatly to the saleability of the goods.

Attempts have been made to facilitate carrier bags for such display on a rod, by providing a recess or indentation along the inner edge of the outwardly-extending bow portion, such recess providing a detent into which a rod can fit. However, it has been found that this is not an entirely satisfactory solution to the problem because of the tendency of the handle portion to slide laterally of the rod, thereby resulting in an unbalanced support for the bag, which tends to tilt the bags in various positions, rather than allowing them to hang vertically. These problems are overcome with the use of a hook, which is centrally disposed and provides for balanced hanging of the handles from a display rod.

The use of the hook instead of the handle, although providing the advantages mentioned above, has a serious dis advantage in that this interferes with the carrying of the bag, since convenient carrying can only take place when a hand grip is provided through which one. may insert ones fingers to support the bag.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing disadvantages have been overcome by the combination of this invention which provides a combination handle-hook carrying means, in combination with a closure means, for thermoplastic carrier bags. According to the invention, the closure and carrying means comprises two elongate strip portions, which may be separate pieces, or may be integrally formed at their ends, tokether with an outwardly extending bow portion, which is joined with a respective one of the elongate strips, and a further hook portion which is integrally BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In describing this invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a thermoplastic carrying bag having a closure and carrying means in acordance with the present invention, whereby the carrying means comprises both a handle and a removable hook portion;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the structure of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3--3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the section line 44 FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a carrier bag constructed according to the present invention and comprising bag walls and 10a formed of a thin-film thermoplastic material aud a combined closure and carrying means 11. As shown in FIGURE 1 and also in the crosssectional view of FIGURE 4, the combined closure and carrying means 11 is inserted within the bag walls at the mouth of the bag, and preferably the bag walls 10 and 10a of FIGURE 4 are heat-sealed to the thermoplastic closure and carrying means 11. Such heat-sealing is effected in a manner well-known in the art, although it should be noted that the scaling is effected only along a sealing portion comprising the lowermost edge portion of the elongate strips 12 and 13. The reason for this is to avoid the application of heat in the immediate region of the stud and recess closure means 14, 15, as this would otherwise cause some deformation of the studs and recesses and thereby make it difiicult to detach the two strip portions 12 and 13 from each other.

The top view of FIGURE 2 shows the two strip portions 12 and 13, which in the preferred embodiment of the invention are preferably integrally secured at their ends 14a and 15a, so as to form a unitary closure and carrying means. FIGURE 2 also shows the stud and recess closure means for detachably securing the two strips 12 and 13. A plurality of stud and recess combinations are shown, with each stud 16-18 fitting into a corresponding recess 19-21 on the opposite strip. Preferably, two of these stud and recess combinations are so located that each fits in the particular zone Where the laterally extending bow portion 22 joins the respective elongate strip portion 12 or 13. An additional stud and recess closure means, such as that designated 17, 20, may be positioned near the center of the outwardly-extending bow portions 22, 23.

As best illustrated in FIGURE 1, each of the bow portions 22 and 23 has integrally connected therewith adjacent its central portion, an upwardly-extending respective hook portion 24, 25. Both these hook portions are adapted to exactly overlie each other when the strip portions 12 and '13 are secured together by the above-mentioned stud and recess securing means. Each portion 24, 25, includes an upwardly-extending portion 26, which extends downwardly again toward the mouth of the bag at 27, so as to form a hook that enables the bag to 'be hung from the rod or the like for display purposes. Preferably, the hook portions 24 and 25 are integrally formed with the bow portions 22 and 23, but perforations or indentations preferably are provided at 28 where the hook joins the bow portion in order to facilitate the tearing off of the hook portions after sale of the bag and its contents. This enables the ultimate purchaser to tear off the hook portion readily when the bag no longer needs to be displayed, thereby more conveniently adapting the bag for use as a carrying bag, since the hook portions will then no longer interfere with ones carrying of the bag in the usual way by insertion of the fingers through the aperture defined by the bow portions 22 and 23.

FIGURES 3 and 4 illustrate in cross-section and in greater detail the stud and recess closure means and the manner in which the closure and carrying means is inserted inside the mouth of the bag, with the bag walls 10 and 10a secured along the bottom edge of the elongate strip portions 12 and 13.

FIGURE 5 illustrates particularly that the invention is equally well-suited to closure and carrying means where the elongate strip portions 12 and 13 are not integrally formed at their end portions, but instead the closure and carrying means comprises two separate and distinct handle portions, with, however, a suitable securing means such as a stud and recess closure means. It will be understood that each of the handle portions 30, 31 of FIGURE 5 also is provided with an upwardlyextending hook portion (not shown) in the same manner as disclosed in FIGURE 1.

Having described an improved thermoplastic bag and closure and carrying means therefor, we desire it to be understood that the forms of the invention disclosed herein are merely illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the invention, and that various modifications and alterations may be made to the specific forms without departing from the scope of our invention.

What we claim is: 1. A recloseable carrier bag comprising, bag walls formed of a thinfilm thermoplastic material, a carrying and closure means comprising two portions each having an elongate sealing strip adapted to be heat sealed to a corresponding bag wall and an upwardly-extending bow of generally inverted U-shape integrally formed with said strip portion and defining a finger-receiving access for carrying said bag, each said portion of said carrying and closure means having a hook-shaped part integrally formed with said upstanding bow along a rupturable tear line an being centrally disposed of said bow,

said two portions having mutually engaging releasable fastening means on opposed surfaces,

said two portions including also the respective hookshaped portions overlying each other when said two portions are engaged by their respective fastening Schwarzkopf 22954 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner us. .01. X.R. 

